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The man who has been everywhere

A famous photojournalist who once travelled the world photographing whatever hot spot was in the news had an appropriate nickname. He was called “The man who has been everywhere – but only for five minutes.”

Jeffrey Kofman could certainly rival the first part of that claim, but the ABC News correspondent's sojourns around the world have usually lasted a lot longer than five minutes and have left him with an insider's knowledge of the challenges faced by the countries he visited.

The Queen's University graduate spoke to students and staff yesterday on the coups, revolts and revolutions he has covered around the world.

Kofman, who is currently based in London, has reported from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. His work has won him an Edward R. Murrow Award, a DuPont Award and a special Emmy.

He wrote for the Whig-Standard as a student at Queen's University, where he majored in political studies. He worked for CBC, Global Television and CBS News before joining ABC.

His talk yesterday, entitled “Lurching Towards Democracy,” took the students around the world as he discussed the challenges countries struggled to overcome in their efforts to achieve a democratic society.

“I am there as reality unfolds,” he told the students. He always carries a small pocket camera with him and showed photos of the democratic struggles his camera crews covered for ABC News.

He started with Iraq, following the fall of Saddam Hussein and showed a photo of a woman, covered from head to toe, as was the custom, taking part in a political meeting. Western eyes may see her as oppressed, but that may not be her view.

“Our notions and our values of democracy come with so many assumptions,” he said. It is a complex task to navigate your way toward the creation of democracy and freedom of choice."

He called Haiti “the saddest place I've ever been.”

“You don't have to worry about going to hell because you are living in it,” he said.

He was there covering unrest and snapped a photo of women collecting charcoal. They knew little of what was going on in their country and cared only about how it might affect them. It was a country of poverty, illiteracy and no understanding of the political system.

“This is democracy,” said Kofman. “These are the kinds of challenges democracy faces.”

Honduras was “a country that doesn't register on anybody's map” when it was hit by a coup. Trying to find an angle that could register with his viewers back in the United States, Kofman tried to arrange a meeting with the new president.

“How do you talk to a guy who's just taken over a country? You go knock on the palace door.”

Kofman got his interview and reported on a country where all the democratic institutions appeared to be in place, yet didn't really function.

Venezuela had one of the best electoral systems in the developing world, but that still didn't protect the democratic system from being undermined.

Libya was “a disfunctional failed state,” he said.

The death of (Moammar) Gadhafi had given the people “a sense and taste of freedom” that produced “one of the most powerful moments in my career,” he said.

“It was incredibly moving.”

Kofman said the reaction of the people was like they had been locked in a cellar with no air and no light for 40 years and suddenly were let out.

“They've got their freedom, but the hard part is ahead,” he warned. “The government exists, but that doesn't mean it can actually do anything.”

That same problem occurs in may other struggling democracies, he said.

“Democracy is the ultimate destination but the journey never ends,” he told the students. The road ahead can be rocky. “And sometimes you wonder if there really is a road at all.”

Even in countries like the United Kingdom, where democracy has been in place for hundreds of years, things don't always go smoothly, he said.

He cited media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's reign of power, which gave him more clout than the prime minister.

Even the United States sees its share of challenges against the democratic process with its rampant and powerful lobbying.

“It just takes a different guise. So don't expect to see Libya as a full democracy in our lifetime,” Kofman warned.

He said the road to a stable democracy “is often marked by ugliness” and cited Colombia as one of the great success stories of how a failed state can be turned around.

The country had one of the worst homicide and kidnapping rates in the world and no one felt safe from the cartels and the guerillas, he said. “The entire country was broken.”

But thanks to U.S. aid and a newly powerful military, the guerillas were crushed. The country prospered, but is “still a work in progress,” he said.

“In a world full of pessimism, there's a country that has shown you can change things.”

Latin America was once rife with dictatorships, but now, of the 34 countries in the western hemisphere, only Cuba could still be considered ruled by a dictator, he said.